Package



S. ROSEN PACKAGE Oct. 3; 1933.

Filed June 23, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 3, 1933. I 5 RQSEN 1,929,217

PACKAGE Filed June 23. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 LI'HEW M0511 -QJ" CUT HERE SOLD EV ;Q

Patented Oct. 3, 1933 UNITED STATES PACKAGE Shy Rosen, Chicago, Ill., asslgnor to Milprinfi Products Corporation, Milwaukee, Win, a corporation of Wisconsin Application June 23, 1931. Serial 546,298

8 Claims. (Cl. 2064 6) My invention relates to an improved package for such food products as sliced bacon, ham, and

the like.

Heretofore it has been the practice to enclose retail quantities of sliced bacon or similar meat products in a transparent wrapping material about the product. The product, however, is usually in a refrigerated condition when wrapped and therefore is stiff enough to be handled while being wrapped. However, when the package has been exposed to normal temperature for a while, for display purposes or otherwise, it becomes limp and loses its shape and is diflicult to handle. Furthermore, it is difilcult when wrapping the product to form packages of uniform size and shape and to apply the wrapper in a manner to most effectively display the goods and any advertising or printed matter applied on the wrapper.

The purpose of my invention is to eliminate these and other objections to the plain package for products of the above described nature, by the provision of a stiffening member forming part of the enclosing wrapping and constituting a means for defining and maintaining the size and shape of the package.

A further object is to provide a completely sealed package having a transparent portion for the display of the product and a foundation member which stifiens the package during the wrapping of the product and after the package is completed, and which yieldingly maintains a tension upon the transparent material suilicient to keep it from wrinkling and in a smooth, neat and effective condition.

A further object is to reduce the cost of packaging sliced bacon and the like with cellophane or like transparent material by the provision of a foundation or backing member which forms a 'part of the enclosure and reduces the amount of cellophane to that required for the purpose of properly displaying the goods.

Other objects will appear from the following I description and drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of the foundation or backing member formed and ready to receive the product to be wrapped;

Fig. 2 shows the product in place on the backing member and a sheet of transparent wrapping material superposed thereon ready to be folded to overlap the backing member;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the package after beinginverted, illustrating the extended edge portions of the transparent wrapper about to be folded upon the backing member;

Fig. 4 is a similar section with said extending edges folded upon the backing member;

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of a completed package showing the label member applied to the backing member and overlapping the folded edge portions of the transparent wrapper member;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section on the line 6-8 of Fig. 5;

gig. 7 is a top view of the completed package; an

Fig. 8 is a transverse section illustrating the method of severing the label and backing members to open the package.

The completed package is preferably rectangular in form to accommodate it to the usual strips or slices of bacon A, illustrated as appearing through the transparent portion of the package. The package consists principally of three parts, the transparent wrapper B, the foundation or backing member C, and the label and sealing member D.

The foundation or backing member C preferably consists of a rectangular strip or sheet of cardboard or suitable opaque material of sufficient stiffness for the purpose. Thismember is preferably made flat originally and provided with several longitudinal scorings 1, along which it is slightly bent or folded to form a shallow tray or trough. Two of these scorings are sufficient to divide the member into an intermediate section 2 and two edge sections 3, all of substantially equal width, so that the two edge sections can be bent on the scorings at an angle to the plane of the center strip. For the purpose of my invention, the member may simply be given a curved or arcuate formation in cross section, but I have found that the scorings provide a more definite means for guiding the operator in forming the backing member.

In forming the member, the operator can take a stack of flat strips and by simply applying edgewise pressure to the stack, cause the strips to bend along the scorings sufficiently to place the edge sections at an angle to the intermediate section. This formation increases the inherent rigidity or stiffness longitudinally of the backing member C and renders it more effective to retain the package in its original condition. It also forms a tray of definite length and width, upon which the sliced bacon may be laid in somewhat regular formation and substantially within the confines of the edges of the tray, thus serving in general to define the length and width of each package, with the result that the packages will all be uniform. The scoring of the backing member is intended simply to facilitate bending of the backing member and should not weaken the backing member at these points, because the springiness in member operates to tension the transparent; wrapper when the package is completed and hold the wrapper in a smooth, unwrinkled condition.

Having formed'the tray or backing member in the above manner; the operator lays the desired quantity of strips of bacon on the tray, as indicated in Fig. 2, and then places upon the assembly a sheet of transparent wrapping material, such as cellophane B. This wrapper is likewise rectangular in shape, but larger than the tray member, so that its edge portions E and F pro- Ject beyond the margins of the tray and form in the act of so doing partially folds the long flaps around the edges of the tray. She then inverts the package and completes the formation of the package either by hand or by machinery. In either case, the extended edge portions or flaps E (Fig. 3) and F (Fig. 6) are further folded around the tray member so as to overlie the outer face thereof. These overlying flaps E may be secured to the backing member by a suitable adhesive, if desired, although this is not necessary, because the label D which is then superposed upon the backing member, is made sufficiently wide so that it will overlie the folded flaps E and F, and is secured to the flaps by glue. If the flaps E and F are glued to the backing member, as previously mentioned, the label need not be any I wider or longer than the space between the edges of said flaps E and F. However, a better appearing package is provided if the label is made 'substantially the width of the backing member so that it will overlie the flaps, and in that event the label can be relied upon to hold the edges E and F in position. The label is preferably gummed or provided with a suitable adhesive throughout its entire inner surface so that it can be applied not only to the flaps E and F, but also to the exposed intermediate surface of the backing member.

In folding the flaps E and F of the cellophane wrapper member about the edges of the tray member, the operator, either by hand or by machine, applies tension to the wrapping member. This tension tends to bend the side sections 3 of the backing member at a more acute angle to the intermediate section, but this bending is resisted by the springiness in the backing member, to-

" gether with the fact that the body of the goods ornamental border H conforming to the margin v of the backing member, so as to at least partially conceal the ends and edges of the strips of bacon to render the package neater in appearance.

The provision of a cardboard backing member has another advantage over a package completely wrapped in cellophane, because it reduces the cost of the package materially by eliminating the necessity of the cellophane in that portion of the package occupied by the backing member. The backing member or tray functions to render the package rigid enough to be repeatedly handled to define the margins of the package in wrapping the goods, and to provide a foundation for the label member upon which any suitable advertising matter may be placed. The fact that the flaps E and F are secured either to the backing member directly or to the label, or both, completely seals the package.

The label member is preferably provided with a printed line or series of dots J longitudinally of the center thereof to indicate a line upon which the backing member and label may be cut to open the package. In Fig. 8, the backing member and label are shown severed along this line and the severed sections swung outwardly about the edge portions of the package so that the contents of the package may be conveniently removed. If the contents are only partially removed, the severed sections of the backing member may be again folded over the remaining portion of the product, thereby practically closing the package until the remaining contents are used. a

While I have illustrated in the drawings and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is understood that changes may be made in the construction, operation and arrangement of the parts, without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I contemplate such changes as are embraced within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a package, the combination of a body of deformable, relatively limp merchandise product of substantial weight and conforming to the confines of the package, a resilient cardboard member upon which the product is placed and which is bowed by the weight and volume of said merchandise, a transparent wrapper member extending over said body on the. backing member and folded around the margins of said backing member to overlie the surface of said backing member opposite that upon which said body is placed, and a label member secured to the outer surface of the backing member and overlying and secured to said folded portions of the transparent member, whereby the transparent member is subjected to the resiliency of the cardboard member and the weight and volume of said body of merchandise to tension the transparent member, and to compensate for expansion and contraction of said transparent member.

2. In a package, the combination of a body of deformable, relatively limp comestible of substantial weight and conforming to the confines of the package, a sheet of resilient cardboard sprung out of a flat plane to form a retaining tray upon which said body is supported, and having a tendency to return to its flat condition, a transparent wrapper sheet disposed over said body on the tray and having opposite edge portions folded around the margins of said cardboard sheet to overlie the outer face thereof and secured thereto, whereby said sheet is stretched over the goods by the resiliency of said sheet of cardboard and the weight of the body of comestible supported thereby.

3. In a package, the combination of a body of deformable, relatively limp merchandise product of substantial weight, a sheet of resilient cardboard sprung out of a flat plane to form a retaining tray upon which said body is supported, a transparent wrapper sheet disposed over said body on the tray and having its edge portions folded around the margins of said cardboard sheet to overlie the outer face thereof, and a sheet of paper superposed upon said folded edge portions and the outer face of the cardboard sheet and secured thereto, whereby the transparent member is maintained under tension by the resiliency of the cardboard member and the weight of said merchandise product.

4. In a package, the combination of a body of deformable, relatively limp merchandise of substantial weight, a sheet of resilient cardboard sprung out of a fiat plane to form a retaining tray upon which the body of merchandise is supported, a transparent wrapper sheet disposed over said body on the tray and having opposite edge portions folded around the margins of said cardboard sheet to overlie the outer face thereof, and a labeled sheet of paper superposed upon and secured to said folded edge portions and the outer face of the cardboard sheet whereby the transparent member is subjected to the combined resiliency of the cardboard member and the weight of the merchandise to tension the transparent member, said labeled sheet having a mark thereon indicating a line upon which the cardboard is to be severed to open said package.

5. In a package of the class described, the

combination of a body of comestible of a greasy character and of substantial weight and volume, a relatively stiff rectangular resilient sheet of cardboard scored along longitudinallines and supporting said comestible, said resilient sheet of cardboard being sprung transversely out of a flat plane, a sheet of regenerated cellulosic material extended over said body and secured to said cardboard sheet, whereby said sheet of regenerated cellulosic material is maintained in a taut condition by the weight and volume of said comestible to compensate for decrease of resiliency in said cardboard sheet due to any absorption of grease by the latter.

6. In a package of the class described, the

combination of a body of comestible ofa greasy character and of substantial weight and volume, a relatively stiff resilient rectangular sheet of cardboard supporting said comestible, said resilient rectangular sheet of cardboard being sprung transversely out of a flat plane, a sheet of regenerated cellulosic material extended over said body and secured to said cardboard sheet whereby said sheet of regenerated cellulosic material is maintained in a taut condition by the weight and volume of said comestible to compensate for decrease of resiliency in said cardboard sheet due to any absorption of grease by the latter.

7. A package of the class described comprising. a body of merchandise conforming to the confinesof the package and of substantial weight, a sheet of thin transparent wrapping material formed about and disposed over one side of said body, and a relatively stifi member of resilient material disposed over the opposite side of said body with its edges engaging the sheet of transparent material, said resilient member being maintained in a bowed condition by the weight and volume of said merchandise to exert a tension on the transparent member to hold said transparent member in taut condition over the body of merchandise.

8. A package comprising a sheet of relatively stiff resilient cardboard and a sheet of thin, flexible, transparent material having its marginal portions folded around the edges of the cardboard to overlie theface of the cardboard opposite the transparent sheet and secured in position, and a body of deformable merchandise conforming to the confines of the package and positioned between said transparent sheet and the cardboard and of substantial weight and volume to spring-the cardboard into bowed formation to draw the transparent sheet relatively taut over the body of merchandise.

SHY ROSEN. 

